Proper Squatting form I Squat form for beginners

YouTube, what's going on? In this video today you and I are going to be stepping into the gym and we're going to be talking about the most common squat mistakes. I'm going to cover all types of ranges. I'm going to cover almost every single squat mistake you could possibly make. So, if you're somebody who does squats and you want to know if you're doing them correctly, one of these things I'm going to show you is probably going to come up for you. So, you're going to want to make sure you watch all of them. Don't just watch one, or don't just watch 2. Make sure you watch all of them to really understand and really know the most common squat mistakes and also how to correct them. I'm not just going to tell you what they are, we're going to talk about how to correct them. Okay? So without further ado, since there are going to be a few we're going to cover, let's dive right into the video. All right? All right. So in this video I'm just going to be demonstrating with a dumbbell in a goblet squat. Now all of these things are going to go for a back squat. If you have a barbell on your back, all these things are going to go for if you're doing a front squat Or if you're doing any kind of squat, these things are going to come up, right? The first thing is actually your shoes. And so the number one mistake people make when they go and squat is they try to— you're trying to squat in like running shoes. That is suboptimal to say the least, because those running shoes do not have a flat surface like these shoes do right here. So if you look at the bottom, the bottom is flat, right? A running shoe is meant to Brace for impact when you're smashing your joints essentially into the ground, and the running shoe has some curvature and some foam in there to brace for impact every time you run. Really good for running, really shitty for squats. And so if you want to make sure you're having the best squats possible, reducing the risk of your injury, increasing your force production, increasing your strength, you're going to want to make sure you get some shoes that are flat. Flat surface shoes. I have these, they're called Nobull, N-O-B-U-L-L, Nobull. I know Nike makes some, I know Adidas makes some, I know Reebok makes some. Hell, you could squat in your socks and bare feet for all I care, but make sure you have a flat surface because when you try to squat in those running shoes, you're going to be off balance and you're not going to have stability through your feet and your ankles. And when talking about what is the base of your squat, The base of your squat is your shoes. And so if you do not have a stable surface to push through, decreased strength, decreased force output, increased risk of injury, because now you don't have stability down there and you won't have stability here, you won't have stability here, you won't have stability here, because stability runs on a continuum. So if you don't have stability from the ground, you're not going to have stability anywhere else. So the first mistake people make is not having flat surface shoes and squatting in running shoes. Please stop trying to squat in running shoes. You're going to either get injured or you're going to decrease your strength. So make sure you have flat surface shoes, all right? Now, the second most common squat mistake is going to be pushing your hips back way too far, okay? So what this is going to look like is, if I get set up in a squat position here, when I say you're pushing your hips back way too far, you're doing this like Kim Kardashian thing, essentially. So what you're doing is, you're going like this. This right here. Guys, this right here is more of a deadlift than it is a squat. Or it's looking like this right here where you're really arching your lower back and you're pushing your butt back. Let me make sure my shirt's tucked in. You're pushing your butt back entirely way too far. You should have some slight hip hinge, which basically just means you're slightly going back with the hips. But it shouldn't be to this extent where like you're pushing your butt back like Kim Kardashian and you're super stretching out your hamstrings right here. There should still be some knee bend, right? So when you're going down into your squat, we want it to look like— you want to almost like think about karate chopping your hips and then dropping straight down into your squat. So as opposed to looking like this right here, we want it to look more like This right here, right? Notice how there was knee bend there as opposed to just this right here, next to no knee bend. You're going to karate chop your hips and then drop down into your squat and then right back up, okay? Now on the flip side of that, the other mistake people make is they break too much at their knees and they don't send their hips back enough. I know it's kind of like a, you know, that back and forth dichotomy here, but That's going to look like, if you're in a squat position— I'll show you from the side view. If you're in a squat position, you're trying to go like this, right? You're trying to squat down and you're trying to go like this. And what happens also, if you watch my heels here, when you really try to go— you're thinking about going down. You're not going back at all whatsoever now. You're just thinking about going down. And what happens is, you're going to put a lot of pressure on your knees. That's why your knees are probably hurting. And what's going to happen is, you're going to get to a point where your heels are going to have to come off the ground because your ankle mobility just can't support your knees going that far forward to that extent. Your knees should go forward a bit, and it is okay if your knees go forward and over your toes a bit, but it's not okay if your heels come off the ground. So if you're squatting like this and you're just thinking like, down, your knees are traveling super far forward, Again, 2 things. Number one, like we just said, make sure you karate chop with the hips back first and then you can drop down into your squat. And then number 2, make sure to keep your feet flat on the ground the entire time. Again, your knees going past your toes is not necessarily a bad thing. So I know you've probably heard that. It is not necessarily a bad thing, but if your knees are going over your toes with your heels getting lifted off the ground, That, my friend, would be a bad thing. And so again, you want to karate chop the hips back and then drop down. Make sure your feet stay flat on the ground. Once again, this is why having flat surface shoes are going to be very beneficial for you. So again, one more time, don't just think down, think back first a bit, and then you can drop down into your squat and then push back up. Okay? Now the 3rd mistake when talking about Squat mistakes is going to be your knees caving in. Now, there are a few reasons this could be happening. Here's what I'll say. Most people try to fix their knees caving in during a squat. Let me show you what it looks like. So when you're doing a squat, what happens is when you squat down, you're like this right here. And even doing that one rep fucking hurt my knee. So this is where, again, if you're somebody who's like, my knees hurt when I do squats, Maybe, but it's probably because you're not doing something right with your squats and that's why your knees hurt. So if you're going down and your knees are coming in, or if you're going down and as you get down your knees go like this back up, that is a mistake. That is something that should not be happening because that means you're going to put a lot of extra pressure on your knee. You want to make sure your knees track, so like they track in terms of where they are. They track over your 2nd or 3rd toe. You really want to make sure your knees track over your 2nd or 3rd toe the entire time, okay? So, a few things here. Just knowing that, number one, could possibly make the difference already. So, again, if we're doing this thing right here, make sure our knees track over our 2nd or 3rd toe the whole time, push right back up, right? Now, what some people will do is they'll put a band around their knee and they'll say, That helps you push against the band to keep your knees out. Here's what I'll say. You can do that, but I would not do it for too long, and I would not rely on it because of 2 reasons. Number one, you're not actually fixing the problem. You're just putting a Band-Aid on the issue. It's like if you had a huge open gash and you just put a Band-Aid on it. That's essentially what that is. Then number 2, when you put a band around your knees, you are really stressing your piriformis, which is like your Internal hip rotator. So when you're making that do all of the work, again, if you think about your bodyweight plus weight, whether you're doing a dumbbell, or a barbell, or whatever, that little hip internal rotator is essentially doing all of the work, and that is just not what it's supposed— it's not what it's meant for. It's not what it's supposed to do. So using a band here and there to help facilitate, okay, cool, let me make sure my knees are tracking out. That's one thing, but I wouldn't try to keep using it over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again because you want to make sure you get things right. So what I would say is, number 1, you should first strengthen your glutes, which if you need help strengthening your glutes I've actually done an entire video just like this one on how to strengthen your glutes. I will put it here above, and probably over here, over here somewhere. I'll put it there above and feel free to check it out. Then number 2, once you strengthen your glutes that's, again, going to help right there. Number 2, you want to think about 2 things for me. When you get down into your squat, right, I want you to think about 2 things. Number 1, think about— don't think about standing up. Think about pressing the floor away from you. Think about pushing that floor away from you. That's going to help you activate your glutes a bit more. And number 2, when you're at the bottom of the squat here, think about— like that hop— think about pinching your glutes together, right? Right? If somebody's trying to stick their finger up your butt, do not let them. If they're going to try to stick their finger up your butt, don't let them. And then push up from there. Those 2 cues combined, push the floor away and pinch your cheeks. That should probably help you with your knees on top of just knowing your knees should be tracking over your 2nd or 3rd toe. Last but not least, and this is kind of the next point, we'll talk about it really quickly. Just make sure your feet aren't too close. Because what happens sometimes is if your feet are too close, your knees really have nowhere else to go because your femur is going into your hip joint at an angle where it needs to create room. So it's going to kind of go like this. Okay? So just make sure your feet are not too close. And that's actually the next point we're going to touch on. So the next point is going to be where you have your feet set up. I see 2 things happen. Either people go way too far out wide, or people go way too close. Now, here's what I'll say. When it comes to squatting, everybody's mechanics are different. Everybody's limb lengths are different. Everybody's biomechanics, and everybody's structure, and everybody's joint angles, and their femur insertions— everybody's different. So there's no, like, hey, you've got to do this. It's different for everybody. But what I will say, just coaching thousands of people by this point, typically speaking, a stance about hip width with your toes slightly pointed out— is going to be where you want to start with. Go from there. Some people might go a tad bit more in, some people might go a tad bit more out. But if you start roughly hip width with your toes slightly pointed out— not like a penguin, but toes slightly pointed out— that should be a good place because when you get down to the bottom of your squat you have to have some degree of hip external rotation to allow yourself to get that full range of motion, right? So if you go like this with your hip and then kind of go there, you see how you kind of stop right here and then you go farther when you kind of bring your knee out? That is that kind of external rotation where you can get more range of motion. So if you go about hip width and your toes slightly pointed out, that should be a good place where you're going into a good range of motion there where you can get down and not have bad things happen, whether it's rounding your lower back, or whatever the case may be. Thanks, Eric. Which leads me to the next point, which is rounding your lower back. So there's a few reasons why you might be rounding your lower back, especially at the bottom of your squat. The first reason— actually, I'll just show you really quickly what it looks like. So when you get down to the bottom of your squat, this is what that looks like. It's called that butt wink, right? There's a few reasons that might be happening. Number 1, you might not be engaging your core correctly. So if you need some help on how to brace your core, again, I'll put an entire video here above. But essentially, I want you to think about 2 things. Either, number one, somebody is going to punch you as hard as they possibly can and you're trying to bear down and make sure you brace your core, or number two, you're sitting down and you really are constipated. You've got to really push one out, but you don't actually want to poop, but you're trying to push one out. That's the same kind of thing I want you to think about with your core, right? Because if you're not bracing your core, your lower back is going to tuck under you. But if you are bracing your core, automatically It keeps you in a more upright position as opposed to this, this, this, this. Right? So that would be the first thing to look at when talking about your lower back rounding. The second thing is quite possibly just, you're going outside of your active range of motion. And just really quickly covering, you have an active range of motion and a passive range of motion. Passive range of motion is like— I'm sorry. Active range of motion is Let's say I'm doing this right here. That's what my hip can do. But if I grab my knee and pull it up, that is passive range of motion, right? So everybody has an active range of motion and you just might be going outside of your active range of motion. So for example, let's say you get down into your squat, your core is braced, and you get to about right here and say after right here you go like that, right? You might just simply be going outside of your active range of motion for right now. You might not have the proper mobility. To get lower than that. That's okay. I mean, we want to get to at least 90 degrees. So, when I say 90 degrees, I mean, we want to get to where your hip is in line with your knee. But that's where you want to be at least, and work to get there. But after that, if your lower back rounds, you getting lower is not working more of your legs, it's not working more of your glutes, it's not working more of anything. Besides your lower back. Not only is it— and again, whether you have weight here or a barbell on your back compressing your spine, when you round that lower back at the bottom, you're putting all of that load on your lower back, which that's not where it's supposed to be, right? So just make sure, you know, videotape yourself. For example, I have all my clients videotape themselves and see where is your active range of motion. How low can you get? Without going outside of that, without rounding your lower back. So those 2 big things right there. Make sure to keep your core braced, again, like someone's going to punch you, or you've really got to poop one out. Then again, do not go outside of your active range of motion because remember— I just talked really fast. I don't know what I said right there. Remember, if you go past, say, this right here; if this is good, but then you go here, you getting lower in your squat is not a good thing. It's not going to benefit you. Now, the next mistake— I know, a lot of mistakes here, but I want you to make sure you are good to go. The next mistake is going to be turning your squat into a good morning. So, there's an exercise called a good morning, and that's essentially when— let's say I had a dumbbell right here. This would be what a good morning is. It's essentially an inverted Romanian deadlift because you have the weight up here instead of Down here, right? What happens is, people go into their squats, they'll do this right here, and then they'll do that right there. So they get down, but then they shoot their hips back, they lock their knees out, and then from there you're literally just doing a deadlift with all of your lower back. And not even any of your glutes and hamstrings, honestly. It's more just like straight lower back. So how to prevent that is a few things. Number 1. Make sure to keep your core braced because if your core is super tight and super braced you're not going to be able to push those hips back because your core is going to keep you upright, right? Number 2, don't forget your core isn't just here. Your lats are a part of your core as well. So we want to make sure we're bracing our lats. That's something you— I don't know if you've heard that before, but you want to make sure you're engaging your lats. The way you engage your lats is Literally just think about smashing an orange between your armpits, right? If you're trying to smash an orange, like if I had this weight right here, if I'm trying to smash an orange between my armpits and I'm keeping my core braced, now you're really getting this torso position where you're nice and tall, you're strong, you're upright. But if I'm like flaccid throughout, I'm getting this like thing right here, right? So that's the first way To help correct that, brace your core, engage your lats. And again, your lats are right here. The second thing would be, think about somewhat driving your knees forward. And I don't mean like coming up on your toes, I just mean like when you're at the bottom of this squat right here, think about your knees are getting pushed forward as you stand up. Because what's happening right now is you're thinking back— I mean, you're going back there. So we want to kind of get you forward. forward a tad bit though, because this can backfire to where your heels come off the ground. Do not let your heels come off the ground because it's going to hurt and you're going to fall probably. It's off balance. And so, but ever so slightly, think about when you're down in the bottom position, think about these knees just driving forward, staying forward, driving forward, as opposed to getting here and then your knees are shooting back. If your knees shoot back, well then You're going to turn it into a good morning, and again, it's just all going to be lower back at that point. So those things can help with a lower back good morning squat. Now, the next mistake is going to be rounding your upper back. So this can look like, if you're down in the squat right here, when you stand— either, actually, not just going down, not just going up, but going down as well. It can either look like you get down and then you kind of do One of these guys. So you don't really do a good morning to where you don't go like that, but you're more like that right there. Or it can look like— and again, whether you have a dumbbell, or a barbell, or whatever— it can kind of look like this right here. So what do we want to do? 2 things. We want to make sure our lats are engaged, and we want to make sure our chest is facing the wall in front of us. Because if our core is braced, Our lats are engaged and our chest is facing the wall in front of us. Well then from there, you, my friend, are going to quickly fix that squat mistake because you're engaging your lats, you're making your chest face the wall in front of you. Create some tension in your upper back. Don't like super squeeze your shoulder blades together, but create some tension in your upper back. That will help as well. And last but not least, the last mistake we're going to touch on is People having their chest way too upright. So what happens is, people get down into their squat and they stay like this right here. You've probably heard, keep your head up, keep your head up. Yeah, keep your head up, but to an extent. Because if you go like this you're going to arch this part of your spine, which is going to arch this part of your spine. So we want to make sure— we don't want to go down like this, we want to go down with our chin tucked and our head getting pulled to the ground. the ceiling above us. If you do those 2 things, tuck your chin and pull your head to the ceiling, and do all the things we've said thus far— brace your core, engage your lats, do all the good stuff we've said thus far— well, now from there you're going to keep your chest up without going like this. Because if you go like this, you're going to round all of your spine. Okay? So keep your chin tucked, keep your core braced, keep your chest facing the wall in front of you, and now you're keeping your chest up without Doing this thing right here where you're looking up and arching your cervical spine, which is going to then arch your lumbar spine. So just make sure to keep your chin tucked, head to the ceiling, core braced, lats engaged, and from there you will have a great squat. All right? All right, guys. So that was the video. Hope you enjoyed it. Hope you learned something. Hope it helped you with your squat. If it did help you, feel free to leave it a thumbs up. Let me know below. Subscribe to the channel and let me know if you enjoy videos like this. I can try to do some more of them. All right?